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K E M A R K S 



Richard S, Spofford, 

h 
OF ne:\wburyport, 

At a meeting of the citizens of Massachusetts, called 

IN Washington, D. C, January 20, 1879, to take 

commemokative notice of the death of 

Hon. C'aleb Cfshing. 



A iew words will suffice to-night, my friends, to attest 
my sympathy with you, as citizens of Massachusetts, in con- 
templation of the mournful event which has assemhled us 
together, and my sense of pci'sonal hereavement in the 
death of a valued friend. On some other occasion, when 
the grateful task can he accomplished with more of delib- 
erate discrimination than now, when I, at any rate, shall be 
better j)repared to undertake it, it will be my dutiful en- 
deavor to commemorate in some fitting manner the fife and 
character of Mr. Gushing, as known and appreciated by me 
throughout a period of intimate association covering not 
less than a quarter of a century. To-night, however, in 
the full consciousness that this association, with its multi- 
plicity of cherished experiences and incidents, is forever 
ended, I am conscious of that degree of embarrassed feel- 
ing that will permit me to do little more than express my 
high appreciation of his character and public services, and. 



above all, my profound sense of those patriotic aspirations 
and motives !)}• which lie was uniformly governed. 

It lias been extremely grateful to me, as a friend and 
fellow-townsman, to observe with what demonstrations of 
respect, hoth of an ofKcial and unofticial character, the 
tidings of his decease have been received throughout the 
country. Notliing in this regard, I am glad to say, 
has been lacking which could evince the lofty estimate 
of his public and private character, and the general rec- 
ognition of his distinguished career. In that highest of 
our judicial tribunals, the Supreme Court of the TTnited 
States, the field in bygone years of so many of his foren- 
sic triumphs; by the Executive branch of the govern- 
ment, where he has left behind him an enduring record in 
the great office of Attorney-General, and one not less en- 
during in the Department of State ; by the Legislature of 
Massachusetts, so many times honored by his presence and 
made illustrious by his shining efforts; by the surviving 
veterans of the campaigns of Mexico, mindful of his mili- 
tar}' fame ; by the people of Xewburyport, whose attach- 
ment to liim, descending from father to son, through gener- 
ations, no vicissitude of time or fortune could alienate, and 
which he fervently reciprocated; and now here, where we, 
his fellow-citizens of Massachusetts, sojourners at the Capi- 
tal, are met together in the performance of this memorial 
service, — all that the most considerate and partial feeling 
could prompt has been worthily and graciously bestowed in 
every form of tributary honor to his memory. 

Thus, it may with truth l)c said, that if the hour of his 
death is to be considered unfortunate for the country which 
still lias need of those superb attainments and powers which 
made him second to none among statesmen and publicists, 
it has not been ino[»portune for his fame. jSTor, could it 
have been permitted to him, through some clairvoyance of 
the mind's vision, to ha\e foreseen what has occurred, 
would he have regretted, I believe, with physical powers 



yielding to the ii[)proaches of ago, tlie time of bis depart- 
ure. That so iUustrions a man should have been thus 
widely honored, is but a criterion of the country's grati- 
tude for arduous laboi's in more than one conspicuous 
sphere of pul>lic life, and for services not the less im- 
portant that, in many instances, they have been rendered 
without the incitemeut of contemporary fame or the pride 
and prestige of official station. 

Few, indeed, have brought to the service of the country 
abilities so distinguislied and diversitied as Mr. Gushing, 
and to none can be ascribed a more untiring zeal or a 
loftier patriotism. So constantly was he absorbed in pub- 
lic atfairs from youth to age, so preoccupied always with 
the toils, the studies, or the responsibilities of statesmanship, 
that he has appeared to me sometimes to be indifferent to — 
I should rather have said to be independent of — those solaces 
and charms of private life which are the customar}^ require- 
ments and support of men. Indeed, for him, childless aftd 
wifeless as he was, the sum and ultimate of life were found 
in the idea and name of country ; so that he at least could 
say, with peculiar emphasis, in the poet's words — 

"That dear name 
Comprisps liomo, kind kindred, fostering friends, . 
Protecting laws." 

^or was his devotion in this respect prompted by inter- 
ested motives or a dishonorable ambition. So far from 
this, it will surprise man}' to know that it is only within a 
brief period that he has been relieved from embarrassment 
in his private affairs, and that he leaves behind him no 
large possessions, such as are the ordinary emolument of 
such labors as he endured. What is still more to his credit, 
be it said at this time, it concerned him little in what direc- 
tion the Avinds of popular favor were blowing, tlie monitors 
and masters of his life were his convictions of right and 
duty, under all circumstances whatsoever. 

Of the public men of America, living or departed, there 



IS not one who, in iny jn(liTi:nicnt, might with orreater justi- 
ticution than he have ai)phed to himself and his pubhe 
conduct through a long and eventful life language such as 
that im[)uted to Cicero, whom in many respects he re- 
sembled, and which a great cardinal once uttered in the 
parliament of Paris : 

"In difficillimis reipuhlica^ temporiinis urbem nunquara 
deserui, in prosperis nihil de publico delibavi, in desperatis 
nihil timui." 

"In the worst time of the Ivcpublic, I have never de- 
serted the State; in its prosperity, I have asked nothing for 
myself; and in its most adverse moments, I never lost 
hope." 

"When, in a later age, some great orator of the Republic — 
the Pericles of its meridian splendor, or, if that be inevi- 
table, the Demosthenes of its declining period — here in this 
grandest of Capitals, shall revert to our times and recount 
their history, few names upon the roll of our civic fame 
will seem to him and to those w'hom he addresses more 
illustrious than bis in honor of whom we are now assem- 
bled. 

The attritions of prejudice or passion, the misconceptions 
of ignorance, the blindness of Jealousy or envy, — these, 
for the time being, when political passions are dominant, 
and the rancor of faction malignant as now, may, in some 
quarters, obscure the fame of one who was ever too thought- 
less of its vindication; may seek even to detract from his 
personal merits and the value of his })ublic labors. But in 
the future, these, the mere fleeting shadows of the moment, 
will be swept away, and, gathering a steadfast brilliancy 
with advancing years, the fame of Caleb Cushing will have 
a secure [ilace and be proudly cherished in the hearts of liis 
countr3'men. Thus will our departed friend and fellow- 
citizen have achieved all that in human life is most honor- 
aide to men, the fitting reward of those unselfish toils 
whieli in tile high walks of public duty still make ambition 



virtue, — that ambition which was for hiin, and will be tor 
the great in every age, 

■'Tlu; s))nr thnt tlu' clear j^piiit doth raise 

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To sconi ilcli<>ht.s and live laborious daj'p." 

By all it will then be clearly recognized that the true rank 
to be assigned to him is that of one among the greatest of 
statesmen, the most learned of lawyers, the most patriotic 
of citizens, the niost accomplished of men ; and that, oc- 
cupying this pre-eminent position, so great and valuable 
were his public services, it may truthfully be said that in 
his day and generation he was one of the pillars of the 
Republic. 



OF CONGRESS 

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CONGBESS 




